Everything You Need To Know About Fishing In Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons
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The End of Dragons expansion for Guild Wars 2 added a bunch of new features that players had been clamouring for! There’s the giant Siege Turtles, for example, that you can ride into battle with a buddy. And, of course, we couldn’t forget fishing!
Fishing is the kind of thing you’re surprised to hear that Guild Wars 2 didn’t already include. It’s got a Cooking mechanic, it’s got foraging for vegetables, wood, and minerals out in the open world, it’s got a wide variety of maps and underwater explorable zones… fishing just seems like the next step! Now that we’ve finally got it with End of Dragons expansion, we’re reviewing everything you could possibly need to know about it!
How To Unlock Fishing
You’ll gain access to fishing as soon as you reach the first Canthan map: Seitung Province!
That will happen automatically after you complete the first chapter of the End of Dragons story. You’ll automatically obtain a Fishing Rod and 50 Wooden Fishing Lures.
Fishing Basics: How To Fish And The Parts Of A Rod
Your fishing equipment has three basic parts:
In order to go fishing, you’ll need to have either Bait or Lures equipped (but it doesn’t matter which). If you have both equipped, you’ll get even better bonuses.
To start fishing, just approach any body of water! You don’t necessarily need to be at a Fishing Hole. Use the button under the ‘Swap Weapons’ button to equip your Fishing Rod, then press the ‘1’ key to cast your line. Each time you fish, it’ll use up one Lure and/or one Bait. When your bobber is surrounded by bubbles and ripples, press ‘1’ again! You’ll get a Fishing mini-game where you need to follow the green block (the fish) with the brown slider (your rod) aby. When the bar fills up all the way, you’ll have successfully caught a fish! You can keep it whole or double-click on it to turn it into fish meat.
Fishing Vendors
There are two new kinds of vendors in the open world.
The first is Fishmongers. They allow you to turn lesser quality fish meat into higher quality fish meat, by trading up stacks of 5’s. Once you’ve earned the Local Legend Mastery Rank, they’ll also sell you Chunks of Ancient Ambergris (a new crafting material) and several fishing-themed Minis.
The second type is Fishing Supplies merchants. From them, you’ll buy more Lures and different types of Baits. Once you’ve earned the Local Legend Mastery Rank, they’ll also be able to sell you unique fishing-themed skins for your character.
Fishing Circumstances: Fishing Holes, Water Types, Baits, And Times Of Day
The type of fish you will catch depends on a number of different factors. All the fish you can catch are listed, organized by region, in the ‘Fishing’ achievement category under your Hero menu. If you hover over a fish, it will tell you its particular requirements to be caught. For example, these are the requirements for catching a Seahorse:
- Hint: Found in bodies of saltwater all across the world.
- Fishing Hole: Any, Open Water
- Favored Bait: Any
- Time of Day: Any
Fishing Holes/Types Of Water
Fishing Holes are areas where fish are congregating, marked by a light blue ring on the surface of the water. The Fishing Holes are named after the type of water they’re in, which you can check by holding the ‘Ctrl’ key when you’re looking at one. The kinds of Fishing Holes you’ll find are dependent on the region you’re fishing in.
However, if the Fishing Hole for a particular fish is marked as ‘Open Water’, that means that you don’t need to be at a Fishing Hole to catch it. The ‘Open Water’ label will come with an additional label: either ‘Any’ (indicating that you could catch this fish at a Fishing Hole) or ‘None’ (indicating that you must not be fishing at a Fishing Hole to catch this fish).
Baits
The baits are exactly what it sounds like: if the fish indicates a particular bait, then you’ll only be able to catch that fish with that bait.
The potential favoured baits (at the time of this writing) include…
- Sardines
- Mackerels
- Shrimplings
- Fish Eggs
- Minnows
- Lightning Bugs
- Scorpions
- Nightcrawlers
- Glow Worms
- Sparkfly Larvae
- Lava Beetles
- Ramshorn Snails
Times Of Day
The Times of Day are also pretty self-explanatory: it’s all about when you catch the fish! However, it’s important to note that the Time of Day is determined by the time on the map, not by the server time or your local time at home. To check this, type ‘/time’ into the chat bar and hit enter; the game will tell you what the current “Tyrian Time” is.
The potential favoured Times Of Day include…
- Nighttime
- Dusk/Dawn
- Daytime
Fishing Mastery Track
| Name | Ability | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Fishing Hole Master |
|
2 Mastery Points |
| Angler Sense |
|
3 Mastery Points |
| Fishing on a Full Tank |
|
4 Mastery Points |
| Master Caster |
|
5 Mastery Points |
| Local Legend |
|
6 Mastery Points |
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